Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Saturday, February 6, 2010

While in Honolulu, we also ate at a newer Tiki Bar called Tikis Bar and Grill. We usually eat here at least once every time we stay at Waikiki. It's a great restaurant, with good food, well made drinks and lots of tikis. It also has a great view as it's right across the street from Waikiki Beach. On the downside, it is a bit expensive.

Tikis is a modern take on the classic tiki bar although the modern definitely outshines the classic here. Lots of Shag paintings and modern looking tikis.

We had the Coconut shrimp appetizer, which was really good. Before dinner they also serve purple taro rolls with vanilla banana butter. These rolls alone are worth the trip. For our main course I had Sea Scallops and my wife had the Macadamia encrusted Mahi Mahi. The Mahi Mahi was good but the Sea Scallops were a little disappointing. The scallops themselves were pretty good but the sauce it was served with just wasn't that good.

Like I said earlier, it's a bit pricey. For our appetizer, 2 meals and dessert, with no alcoholic drinks our tab came to an even $100 with the tip. I considered it a bit of indulgence that was worth the price. You can get by for less if you take advantage of their happy hour specials or Tuesday night taco specials.While leaving we stoped at their gift shop. I bought the green tiki mug on the left.

While on my recent Hawaiian vacation we visited a couple tiki bars. The La Mariana is one of the best tiki bars that I've been to. Lots of tikis, good food, and prices that are very reasonable for Honolulu.I had the Cajun Grilled Ahi, which, while not the best I've ever had, was still pretty darn good. My wife had Macadamia encrusted Mahi Mahi, which was also very good. We also had a couple drinks. I had a Mai Tai, which was respectable, and my wife had a Blue Hawaii which was probably the best example of that drink I've tried.

We went on a Monday. Unfortunately on Mondays the piano player is off. We've been here a couple times before and the piano player is definitely one of the best things about this place. He's blind, and plays and sings standards like "Night and Day". I found this picture on the Internet. He is playing with the ukulele playing Japanese duo Petty Booka.

While we were leaving I noticed they have a new small gift shop. They had t-shirts, hats, and a selection of tiki ceramic articles. Many were made especially for La Mariana by Gecko. I really liked the bowl with the pink hula girls on the top but it was $200. I settled for the brown Tiki Mug on the bottom right for $50. I think I'll do a separate post on it because it's pretty cool.

La Mariana is kind of out of the way and a little difficult to find. There is only a small sign visible from the road, so pay attention when you get close.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I'm back from vacation now. Sorry I didn't get any more pictures up while I was there but I had a little internet trouble. Plus I was on vacation and didn't really want to spend a lot of time on the computer. So here are a few more tikis.

KapuanoniHeiau on the Big Island

Crazy Lava Tiki South of Kailua-Kona

Tiki on Big Island

Tiki bike rental shop sign.

I also have some pictures from the "Place of Refuge" National Historic Park. I'll put together a post for that later.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

It's vacation time. On Tuesday I flew to the Big Island with my wife and 5 month old daughter. It's kind of tough to be real adventurous with an infant in tow so we've been taking it slow, which is probably a good idea anyway since this is a vacation.

Yesterday we ventured out to Pua Mau Place, a Botanical and Sculpture Garden. There, I found this interesting Tiki face. It's a little different than most Tikis.

I'll try to post some more Tikis as I see them. We are on the Big Island untill Saturday and then it's off to Oahu for 4 more days.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

This is my favorite ornament. I got it at the gift shop at the Na ‘Āina Kai Botanical Garden on Kauai. It's handmade from the shell of a rather large nut of some sort. It is painted with with hula girls and palm trees.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Here are a few more of my Christmas ornaments. The bigger Tiki in the middle comes from Hilo Hatties. The glass fish was a birthday present and the smaller tikis, I made out an erasers that I got in a Seattle store called Archie McPhee. I turned them into ornaments by pushing an ornament hanger through the top of them.

I apologize for the washed out look of these pictures. I had to use a flash and it washed out some of the picture.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

These two ornaments came from Cost Plus World Market. I bought them this year and they cost about 6 dollars each. If I was more artistically inclined I would paint a tiki in the window of the spaceship. Maybe I'll give it a shot anyway. Or maybe I can get my more artistically talented wife or sister to do it for me.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

This tiki ornament, as well as the wooden fishhook in the background came from Hilo Hatties. Sometimes I think this ornament looks more like a totem than a tiki, but since I bought it in Hawaii I think I can safely consider it to be a tiki.

I made the garland out of about 8 cloth flower leis. Most of the leis came from the ABC Stores that are so common in Hawaii. They cost about 99 cents each. I just cut them open and tied them together to make the garland.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

I don't have a fireplace so I had to just hang these stockings on the wall. I bought these at the Hilo Hatties in Honolulu several years ago. We were there in January so all of their Christmas stuff was on clearance.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Now that Thanksgiving is over I spent a little time puting up the Cosmic Tiki Lounge Christmas Tree. Over the past several years I've been collecting tiki ornaments for the tree, and I think I now have a fairly nicely decorated tree.

Between now and Christmas I will post pictures of some of the ornaments. Some I purchased and some I made myself. Stop back and check it out.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Another weekend with another Oakland layover and another trip to BevMo. This time I found a 4 pack of Hula Girl Cocktails mixed in between all the beers and wine coolers. The bottles and packaging were so cool I had to buy a 4 pack.

I tried the Moonlight Mai Tai. Basically it's just sugar water, food coloring and a little alcohol. I found it to be sickeningly sweet. So I don't recommend it if you want a decent drink. If you buy it, buy it for the cool packaging and not much else. I'm going to find a place to display the bottles.They do have a pretty good website. http://www.hulagirl.com/ It has a store where they sell everything from beach towels, to t-shirts, to artwork. Some of that stuff might be worth having but don't expect much from their actual product.

Friday, November 20, 2009

I was just at Borders Book store and I found this solitaire game set. It's a set of 2 solitaire games. A deck of cards for classic solitaire, and a peg board and 33 tiki pegs for a peg solitaire game. It all comes in a cool tiki cigar box. A must have for any home Tiki Bar!The game is made by Daddy-O Productions. It is priced at $20.99 at Borders. I found it on the internet for less if you want to order it.

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About Me

I'm originally from Bismarck ND, and graduated from the University of North Dakota. After college I joined the Air Force and was a pilot on a KC-135. In 2005 I retired from the Air National Guard. Currently I am an airline pilot flying a Boeing 737. I am married and after 20 years of marriage we just had our first child.